Classic Train Songs
 Hi, I'm Paul Race, a folksinger and train-lover from my youth, and I operate several large web sites about folk music and trains (see the matrix at the bottom of this page). But this is the only one where those interests really converge.
This page tells the story of several railroad-themed songs that every railfan should know and that almost every Folksinger already does. A few songs don't have their own pages yet, and there are many more songs to add. But I think providing the history of the song (and in many cases, the history behind the song) will make this feature more useful to people in the long run.
If you have a favorite train song, or a favorite performer that you'd like to see added next, please contact me and I'll try to track them down. Also, if you don't see the link for a particular song, hit refresh - it seems like Amazon can never populate all of the links at the same time.
Update for 2025 Because I honor other folks' copyrights, I don't provide mp3s of copyrighted recordings on this site - instead I link to pages like YouTube and Amazon that host recordings and clips. Unfortunately, that leaves a mess when Amazon breaks all their links or when some publisher pressures YouTube to delete a recording. I've gone through several pages and updated the links, but if you find bad or missing links in the meantime, I apologize for any inconvenience.
That said, if you want to track down a particular artist's recording, you can often find it in a new location by searching in Google or YouTube's search bar.
Lyric and Chord Sheets - Most of these song have dozens of versions. While preparing to play a concert of train songs, I wrote down the words and chords I intended to use. Not because I "don't know the words," but because I know too many words. And if, during the adrenaline rush of performing, I launch into a verse I wasn't planning to use, that sometimes means that some other verse doesn't work like it should. So I need to predetermine which of the many choices I plan to confine myself to.
Of course, you probably don't have that problem, and you can probably sing a different version in a different key every time you get out your banjo or whatever.
But I thought it might helpful to provide the song sheets I came up with for my own use - whether or not you find them helpful. I confess that I am ONLY publishing the song sheets for the songs that are public domain. You can find most other lyric/chord sheets by googling the song name and the word "chords."
At any rate here's a link to the song sheets. They're printed in landscape in oversized lettering, so you can use them on a music stand without having to turn pages mid-song. Click here for the Lyric and Chord Sheets.
In the meantime, we have several "new" old songs in the works. So check back.
Steve Goodman's song was inspired by a train ride he took during the ill-fated McGovern campaign of 1972. But the song wasn't heard much on the radio until Steve pitched the song to folksinger Arlo Guthrie, and the rest is history.
For more information and sound clips, click on the City of New Orleans page.
This is the granddaddy of modern train songs, describing a tragic accident that occurred when a talented engineer was ordered to make up time on a train he was unfamiliar with over rough territory.
A 1925 recording of this song sold over a million copies, and opened the door for many musicians with Appalachian roots, including the Carter family.
For more information and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
This is one of the world's most popular railroad songs, written by a black railroad worker who knew Casey and had seen him in action. It has been "covered" by serious artists, and cheezed up by folks who thought it was a kids' song, but it is still a great, historical song.
For more information and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
The Wabash River flows through Indiana and borders Illinois. The various iterations of the Wabash Railroad reached several midwestern states, but were most concentrated in northern Illinois. So why does the song "Wasbash Cannonball" talk about the train running from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in some versions to Santa Fe? Because it's a "tall tale of a song" written decades before any train was ever called the "Wabash Cannonball."
For a more complete history and links to some very powerful YouTube performances, please click here.
The Orange Blossom Special was a real train that was advertised as a quick link to the south for folks in the Northeast. It is memorialized in song, or - more precisely - songs. There are words that are seldom sung, and a fiddle solo that (like the "Wildwood Flower" guitar solo) has become better known than the original song.
For lyrics, history, and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
Some folks propose that this song was used as a bragging song about industries like factories and mines as well as railroads. Eventually, Hudy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter recorded a version that included a story about a train engineer at a toll gate, and the "Rock Island Line" became permanently attached to the tune. Pete Seeger helped bring it to the world's attention, and the song became a "staple" of the Folk Revival, recorded with and without the story by dozens of popular artists. Its influence reached across the ocean, becoming Skiffle artist Lonnie Donnegan's breakthrough hit.
For a description of this song's history and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
This traditional gospel song finds its way into a lot of train song collections because it is so catchy and easy to sing along to. It's also been sung at countless Country and Gospel concerts over the years.
Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul, and Mary) added another dimension when he cast it in a minor key (my personal favorite way to sing it).
For some great YouTube links and a free downloadable MP3 by former Byrd Roger McGuinn, click here
This song was written in 1965 by country singer/songwriter Roger Miller, based on a children's rhyme. It's really not about the train as much as it is about a hapless fellow searching for his girlfriend - or even her luggage - after she failed to get off the train.
For more information, and links for listening click here
This song was written in the early 1900s by a fourteen-year-old girl named Elizabeth Cotton. Forty years later, she happened to get a job as a domestic for the Seeger family. And several years later she picked up the guitar again and sang a song that would otherwise have been forgotten.
For the whole story, and several nice versions, click here
This children's song was around before it became rewritten as a swing hit and made popular by folks like Tommy Dorsey. Today it's hard to find many listenable versions, but it still has a lot of potential. It's also stirred up a lot of hard questions like "Is it 'puffing billies' or 'puffer bellies?"
For the whole story, and several versions, click here
This classic American song is actually two or three songs glommed together. Not only has is been a favorite of schoolchildren for over a century, but it's also been recorded by all kinds of artists.
For the whole story, and several versions, click here
Technically this song is about a hobo, not about trains, but I kept tripping over it when I was writing up Roger Miller's "Engine, Engine Number Nine" (above). This was one of Miller's best-loved songs and it is certainly the song that was most often covered well by other artists.
For more information click here
More to Come - I've tried to hit the most important songs first, and I've spent more time updating links, etc., than I expected to, but I hope to add some more eventually.
A popular old spiritual that often comes up when you're talking about old-timey train songs. Is it really about trains? You decide.
For more information click here
More to Come - I've tried to hit the most important songs first, and I've spent more time updating links, etc., than I expected to, but I hope to add some more eventually.
 Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."
And please stay in touch!
- Paul Race
All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
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City of New Orleans
Wreck of the Old 97
Casey Jones
Wabash Cannonball
Orange Blossom Special
Rock Island Line
This Train (Don't Carry No Gamblers)
Engine, Engine Number 9
Freight Train
Down by the Station
I've Been Working On the Railroad
King of the Road
Life's Railroad to Heaven (Life is Like a Mountain Railroad)